livelihood

plural livelihoods · alternative livelod · alternative lyuelode · alternative lyvelod

1. countableuncountableA means of providing the necessities of life for oneself (for example, a job or income).First known use 14th c.

   an independent livelihood;  to make / earn / gain / win a good livelihood by the sweat of one's brow

   5 more examples

   But now when Philtra ſaw my lands decay, And former liuelod fayle, ſhe left me quight[…].

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 226

   […] a Man may as easily know where to find one, to teach him to Debauch, Whore, Game, and Blaspheme, as to teach him to Write, or Cast Accompt: ’Tis their Support, and Business; nay, their very Profession, and Livelihood; getting their Living by those Practices, for which they deserve to forfeit their Lives.

   1692–1717, Robert South, “Sermon 2”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London, page 293

   1716, Joseph Addison, The Free-Holder, London: D. Midwinter and J. Tonson, No. 42, Monday May 14, p. 245, Trade […] employs Multitudes of Hands both by Sea and Land, and furnishes the poorest of our Fellow-Subjects with the Opportunities of gaining an honest Livelihood.

   And now he’s dead, and left her a widow, and she is staying here; and we are racking our brains to find out some way of helping her to a livelihood without parting her from her child.

   1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 1, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC

   [The Orthodox Jewish shopkeepers] could be seen behind their counters, wearing black skullcaps, full beards, and long earlocks, eking out their meager livelihoods and dreaming of Shabbat and festivals when they could close their stores and turn their attention to their prayers, their rabbi, their God.

   1967, Chaim Potok, chapter 1, in The Chosen, New York: Fawcett Crest, published 1982, page 10

   Synonyms: living, subsistence, sustenance

2. archaiccountableuncountableProperty which brings in an income; an estate.First known use 15th c.

   Then ſayde Peter: Ananias how is it that ſatan hath filled thyne hert thatt thou ſhuldeſt lye vnto the holy gooſt and kepe awaye parte off the pryce off the lyvelod[…]?

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts v:[3], folio clix, verso

3. countableobsoleteuncountableLiveliness; appearance of life.

   […] the tiranny of her ſorrowes takes all liuelihood from her cheeke.

   c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 230, column 2

4. countableobsoleteuncountableThe course of someone's life; a person's lifetime, or their manner of living; conduct, behaviour.First known use 10th–17th c.

   wel said Merlyn I knowe a lord of yours in this land that is a passyng true man & a feithful & he shal haue the nourysshyng of your child & his name is sir Ector & he is a lord of fair lyuelode in many partyes in Englond & walys

   1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “iij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I